PKR president Anwar Ibrahim today dismissed talk of factions in the party as “media exaggerations”.

Addressing party members at it a  “Melangkäh ke arah kegemilangan baru” (Towards a new era) gathering in Sibu, Sarawak, tonight, Anwar said media reports had it appear as though “Star Wars” was taking place within PKR.

There was only one group in the party, Anwar said, and “that is Anwar’s group.”

Recent events such as a fight for the party deputy presidency have lent weight to persistent reports of a split in the party. It is said that party members are split between Azmin Ali and outgoing vice-president Rafizi Ramli, while in Sarawak, there are are also rumours of a camp being formed around Julau MP Larry Sng.

Anwar, who had stopped in Kuching for a “non-PKR sanctioned” gathering organised by Sng, appealed to party members to vote for those they believed would be the best leaders and not because they were in “list A or list B.”

Calling for a clean election,  he warned those resorting to “abuse” that there could be no compromise if their actions warranted disciplinary action.

Anwar also hinted that he could be party to the October sitting in Parliament.

“I won’t have a position in parliament. I will be like Lim Kit Siang,” he said of the veteran DAP parliamentary leader.

Anwar said he had a job to do, which was to help reform parliament. “No problem, no position.”

Anwar, who was in May released from prison, said it was impossible for someone else to imagine how happy he was to be a free man.

His time in prison was “torture,” he said.

The prime minister designate spent less than an hour in Sibu. At the end of a 20-minute speech, he walked off the stage straight into a waiting car headed for the airport. –  September 8, 2018.